Sunday, April 1, 2012

The Manchester Parkade in Manchester, Connecticut

Pictures by Mike Kalasnik kaz@deadanddyingretail.com
Description by Nicholas Eckhart nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com
Story by Scott Roberts and Dave EnesInstead of starting off this post how I traditionally do, I decided this time to start off with a story wrote by two people familiar with the Manchester Parkade. Enjoy.

A Walk down the Railroad tracks and Memory Lane: The Manchester
Parkade

Back in the 1970s, my family and I used to frequent the
Manchester Parkade a lot and me too for years on my own. We lived maybe three
miles from there, and it was always cool for me to walk there down the railroad
tracks to my friend Chris’ house, down more tracks to West Middle Turnpike and
onto one of the centers of my childhood. So many happy memories.

Among the things I remember nearly four decades later from
the real early years Kings Department Store. I used to buy records there, and
my mom loved the pretzels at the snack bar. Soon after, Bradlees moved in, and
Kings went by the wayside. There was a big ceremony and long lines when
Bradlees opened. It saddens me that I wouldn’t see Mrs B anymore when it closed
up. All that’s left are graffiti laden memories. My mom used to buy me school
clothes at both places too.

There were many other great places I remember in the
Parkade. The Record Breaker store in the 80s. BEATLE RECORDS..yesss..They had
the rare stuff, before those shiny little things today, called CD’s. We also
had the UA Theatre over there, w its second run films, and INFAMOUS Rocky
Horror picture showings and stores like Marshalls (was Butterfield prior), Thom
McCain Shoes, Anderson Little, Hallmark, Card Gallery and WT Grants, where my
mom loved to buy bedding and clothes for her. Plus there was a radio station,
WINF w CT sports legend George Ehrlich. I won TWO Trivia contest when I was
like 17 w him.

What will happen now that so many of these things are gone
never to come back? I keep hearing people say it will be developed, maybe
commercially, or even apartments. But, all I see now are ghosts of my mom, dad and
me coming out of Bradlees, or John Sticyr and me meeting at the aforementioned
Record Breaker. It was a center of so many people’s lives, my familes, my
friend Chris and so many others. Memories are nothing more than real life
without a soul. The soul left Manchester when the Parkade started closing, to
make way for the malls. It was a place that was more than a place to shop, it
was a hangout for so many, and I miss shopping there. One memory I can
remember, was Christmas shopping at the Parkade, and not having the annoyance w
the big crowds. I can still hear the store announcements at Bradlees: “Welcome
Bradlees shoppers. In our hosiery department, Women stockings, two packages for
the price of one. Thank you for shopping at your Manchester Bradlees.”

Id love to see more stores there now, but the fire is gone,
and you can’t go back in time. Anything that benefits the town is better than
what I see every time I go over by there….

Now on to the description...

The shopping center that does not seem to have an official name, but commonly is refered to as the Manchester Parkade or Broad Street Parkade was built from 1966 - 1971. This shopping center has 258,725 square feet of building space and sits on 18.22 acres of land. The original stores were Stop & Shop, King's, and Forbes & Wallace.

The Manchester Parkade has sat by idly for years. This mammoth complex spans from 340 Broad Street to 324 Broad Street in Manchester, Connecticut. Now it seems that this once prominent shopping center is certainly going to be demolished. Plans for redevelopment say that by next June the parkade will be demolished. Just since the pictures on this post were taken (August 2010) the site has been chained of to discourage trespassers, the towering Bradlees sign out front has been removed, a sign promising redevelopment has been set-up, and interior work on removing asbestos has taken place.

Site Plan

A site plan I created with Bing Maps imagery.

Now here are some photos of the Manchester Parkade

Bradlees Department store

This King's Department store in 1966. After King's closed the store reopened as Bradlees on April 22nd, 1982. Bradlees closed when the chain declared bankruptcy. This store is 70,110 square feet.

The Bradlees sign that was torn down in Mid-2011

This sign is still present on the building to date; making it one of the last intact Bradlees store.

More of the now torn-down sign.

The storefront

Graffiti on the front of the Bradlees store.

Super Stop & Shop grocery store
A 60s or early 70s style Stop & Shop grocery store. Note that not much has changed to the exterior since it opened except that the wood paneling has been painted. This store is 45,715 square feet.

The untouched (except for graffiti) exterior of Stop & Shop.

Mini-Mall section

This originally opened as a Forbes & Wallace department store in 1967 or 1968. This later became a Butterfield's department store after F&W closed up. Most recently this was a Mini-Mall area that featured indoor shops and a Marshall's. After marshall's this was converted to a call center for Carlson Wagonlit Services (a company that offered travel services) in 2000. The call center closed in the early 2000s. The store is 71,000 square feet.

The Strip-Mall section

The Section of the Manchester parkade that housed CVS Pharmacy, Anderson Little, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Hobbytyme, and Card Gallery (to name a few).

22 comments:

Dead developments like this one usually dont stay like this for very long in Houston. There seems to be some developer that is ready to flip the empty stores and bring new life into shopping centers. For example all former Circuit City stores have been redeveloped except for two since the chain closed.

I couldn't agree with you more regarding the "ghosts" of the past. I have so many memories of going to the Bradlees or the CVS before seeing a movie with my parents on a Saturday night. A good chunk of my childhood resides in that Parkade area. I was really saddened when one by one, stores started to leave the area. I'm glad the Parkade Theater was renovated back in 2007 and is still going strong. It's the only theater I go to. As sad as it is to see all the old stores gone and that area vacant for over a decade, it's nice to see something finally happening. I hope they're able to bring in some retail to the area and renovate not just the Parkade but the entire Broad Street area on that side as well.

These pictures are depressing. I truly despise anyone who puts graffiti anywhere and smashing the signs of closed businesses is just wrong- it isn't yours so leave it alone and go get a hobby. I worked at the Manchester Bradlees for 10years and met my husband there. It was old school retail and nothing like the greedy companies of today; the products sold were good quality at a fair price.

I worked for Bradlees for 18 years about 13 of them at the Manchester parkade store(also where I started in 1982) I had the opportunity to peak in the inside of the store in summer of 2011 as they were doing interior demo work to the store. Was amazed that it looked exactly the same as it did when I closed the building on its last day Feb. 1, 2001. I took as many pictures as I could (on facebook "manchester parkade Vintage)the demo crew would not let me roam free for safety concerns. I also had the opportunity to take alot of pictures and video of the actual demolition started in May of 2012. This store was a huge part of my life as I met my wife in the manchester parkade. Even though it was time to go I still miss that the building is not there anymore:(

Anyone remember D&L dept. store? I think that was the name, I'm going waaay back to the early 70s. That was where we would get our cub scout uniforms and related wares. I was just a kid but I recall it being sort of the upscale store in the Parkade.

D&L is where I took all of my babysitting money! Never really knew what it was - only that it was very expensive! When I really had extra cash I bought a pair of black and white plaid pants and wore them every chance I could!1989-90! Card Gallery sold all the little charms for my bracelet and stickers for my sticker book in 87. Loved walking to the movies along the railroad tracks too - .96 cents in 1990's. Of course buying Twizzlers and Strawberry Soda in CVS before the movie and shoving them in my purse was part of our ritual! I wish Walmart was NOT coming to Spencer Street!

I'd love to know if anyone has pictures of the old WINF radio studios, inside or out. Please email to cld@nepr.net. A friend publishes a site regarding CT radio history and there is little available regarding this period. Would love to have an image to forward. My memories regarding the Parkade center around visiting Kings in the 70's and especially Record Breaker in the 80's. We practically lived in that store, getting our favorite British imports LPs from bands we'd only hear about on college radio (ie WRTC.) It was a place of discovery and I'll never forget Dave, Craig, Jane and Spike who worked there for so many years. A touchstone to the world, in a way. It was the place to go when one couldn't get a ride to Hartford to visit Capitol Records, which also specialized in the odd, the imports and the rare.

I remember W.T. Grant being at the Parkade as well as the Shady Glen restaurant, Mammoth Mart and King's. We left Connecticut in September of 1970 and the last shopping we did there was at Radio Shack. Too bad it's all gone now.

This entire thing has been torn down now. The mini-mall section housed The Amazing Store for a while, too, before it went defunct. I worked at the Super Stop & Shop, which eventually relocated to the other wing of the Parkade, in 1985ish. There was an arcade in this section of the Parkade, too - Fun Stop.

Man, a lot of memories there at the Parkade. My family used to go shopping there all the time in the late 60s and early 70s. Kings, Grants, Sears, Card Gallery, Reed's Book Store and if you needed something on Sunday, TREASURE CITY! I believe the owners were Jewish and were closed on Saturday which allowed them to be open on Sunday. The old blue laws were pretty odd. My family left Connecticut in 1974 but came back about a year later. We finally left for good in the fall of 76. I'm glad I got to be there for the Bicentennial. I think my fondest memories of the Parkade were the trips to Kings. We always got a big box of Topsy's Popcorn at the snack bar. Also, having a cheeseburger and s shake at Shady Glenn. Those weird paintings of the elves on the walls in there were rather bizarre, but it just made the place all that more memorable. I looked up our old house over on McKee St just south of West Center. I'm glad my dad isn't alive to see it, it looks pretty trashed. All the maple trees and hedges are gone and the owners park their vehicles on the lawn. Back in the day it was a beaut, now it's crap. It's true, you can't go home again

W.T. Grants was in the 'older' part of the Parkade. The older part was where Sears, D&L, Praugh Shoes, Shady Glen (the only branch of Shady Glen), W.T. Grants (2 stories with offices over the WT Grants), Youth Center, Treasure Chest Jewelers, Radio Shack, a few other stores, Grand Union and Grandway. No Mammoth Mart there...The new part was first a Kings, which moved from the old Cheney Mills. Mammoth Mart was in East Hartford.

Commenting on this website is available for all online users without registering for an account. Please be respectful of other people and their opinions. Be sure to direct any concerns regarding this website to nicholas@deadanddyingretail.com.

Subscribe To

Followers

Contributors

Some pictures are from Bing Maps and Google Maps. Pictures from other sources are labeled as being from other sources. All other photos are copyright of Dead and Dying retail. If you use some pictures or posts from this blog make sure you include Dead and Dying retail as the source of them.